The House That Gucci Built

After two decades of empire building at Gucci Group, Domenico De Sole planned to retire with his wife to their idyllic Hilton Head retreat—until Tom Ford lured him back. Welcome to the fashion world's most unlikely headquarters.

ENLARGE

OUTWARD BOUND | Domenico and Eleanore De Sole, both in custom Tom Ford, by the L-shaped pool at their house in Hilton Head, South Carolina.
Photography by Todd Eberle

By

Elisa Lipsky-Karasz

Updated Feb. 15, 2013 3:56 p.m. ET

IN 2004, AFTER A peripatetic career that saw him ricocheting across the Atlantic Ocean, from his native Italy to East Coast enclaves like Greenwich, Connecticut, and back to Florence and London,
Domenico De Sole
was ready to slow down.

Anyone would agree that the former CEO of the Gucci Group had earned a moment to catch his breath. He'd spent years building a $3 billion fashion conglomerate from a single failing label—by acquiring blue-chip brands including Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta, and young stars like Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen. And, alongside designer
Tom Ford,
he'd defended the company from an alleged hostile takeover by
LVMH
,
then fought to maintain Gucci's autonomy after an outright purchase by PPR.

Photos: An Unlikely Fashion Headquarters

Click to view slideshow Photography by Todd Eberle

"I thought I would retire," says De Sole, who left his post after 20 years with Gucci in a surprising exit. He and his wife, Eleanore, decided to decamp for Hilton Head, South Carolina, a coastal enclave of 37,000 residents and more than 20 golf courses, where the only competitive activity on the agenda would be racing his beloved yachts. The De Soles had spent many happy family vacations there together—starting in 1974, when he proposed to her after a two-month courtship.

De Sole laughs when asked if he's the only Roman on the island, but agrees that it's likely true. It's also a safe bet he's the only person running a major fashion company from a home office in the Sea Pines Resort. The 69-year-old has been chairman of Tom Ford International since 2005—the year after he and Ford left Gucci—when he was meant to be luxuriating in his newfound freedom. But after stepping down, he and Ford had a summit at Ford's Santa Fe ranch. "Tom made it very clear that he wanted to go back into fashion," says De Sole. "He had great name recognition, but you can't let too much time go by. These days people are forgotten very quickly." Within a few days, he and Ford had hammered out a template for a new business; less than a year later, they had launched Ford's namesake brand on the back of two licensing deals: one with
Estée Lauder
for perfume and cosmetics, another with Marcolin Group for eyewear. The pair, who were dubbed "Dom and Tom" in the global headlines during the Gucci power struggle, were back in action.

The alliance was forged in 1994, when De Sole, then president of Gucci America, fought to save Ford's job after Maurizio Gucci wanted to fire him. "I didn't know Tom well at the time but he was very mature, and I liked what he was trying to do with the brand, to make it more contemporary," he says. "When Maurizio fired him, I thought it was a stupid idea." De Sole successfully appealed the decision to then co-owners Investcorp. "I can honestly say that I trust him with my life," Ford says. "He is a great friend and business partner. He is very honest and loyal."

The secret to their seamless collaboration, it seems, is that De Sole regards the design process with a respect bordering on mysticism. "It's very interesting working with creative people because they can see things that other people cannot see," he says. "It's one thing to know if a collection will sell or not sell, it's another thing to be able to design one. I know what I know, and I know what I don't know." What he does know is how to cultivate a brand. Tom Ford International now encompasses 19 freestanding stores in 17 countries, with a new flagship store recently opened in Beijing and the first London store set to open in the fall. The strategy has been to expand globally without diluting the Tom Ford magic by opening too many "doors," as boutiques are called in retail-speak. All this has been done with a judicious eye on cash flow, which has meant spending lavishly on retail spaces while keeping overhead low.

De Sole's role as Tom Ford protector, ambassador and chief strategist keeps him on the road, jetting to Hong Kong or Milan from the tiny four-gate Hilton Head airport. When he is at home, he's up at 5 a.m. checking emails. Then he heads down the bluestone path to his office in the guesthouse, where he conducts a symphony of telephone calls that shifts continents with the path of the sun: to their Italian production partners or the London-based Tom Ford design studio in the morning; in the afternoon, to Ford himself if he's in Los Angeles; and then in the evening to their Asian partners. (He is also on the boards of Gap and
Newell Rubbermaid
and runs a quiet fashion consulting firm on the side.)

Despite the many demands for his attention, De Sole's current priorities are evident in the cleanly decorated house's few flourishes: framed photographs of his daughters—Rickie, an accessories editor at Vogue, and Laura, a marketing director at Estée Lauder—which sit on his-and-her desks, both with views of the water. "We built the house so you can see the ocean from any point," says Eleanore, a trim, active woman whose gray bob neatly frames her ready smile. "It's this idea of movement that goes through the whole house. We were trying to get as much natural light as possible."

‘"The company was like my child, so it was very emotional. I never cried when my parents died, but I cried the day we announced I was Leaving Gucci."’

——Domenico De Sole

Though larger than the neighboring bungalows— all painted in the burnt umber that's de rigueur on the island—their own residence is gracefully composed of two airy, soaring gray wood structures, with the ocean waves breaking mere yards from their bedroom window. There's little delineation between the indoor and outdoor spaces: The paved entrance path leads visitors directly through a double-height living room and out past the pool toward the open water. Meanwhile, the curved ceiling of the main house captures the interplay of light refracted from the L-shaped pool, and the roof's louvered panels float above a wall of windows, perching on delicate wood columns as they shelter an outdoor patio.

"They really wanted an escape," says architect James Thomas, a Charleston native introduced to them by interior designer Tom Scheerer, who had already created a house for the De Soles in Snowmass, Colorado. "It's clean, straightforward modernism," says Scheerer of Thomas's design, which absorbs visitors with an affable hospitality. The kitchen of the main house flows naturally to an outdoor porch. In the living room, walls constructed from a modern version of tabby—a 17th-century concrete studded with oyster shells—surround a fireplace, while upstairs, glass walkways open up onto what would otherwise be cloistered hallways. Functionality was a priority: simple throw rugs are the only floor treatments, and there's the beach equivalent of a mud room, where sandy feet can be cleaned (with Gucci towels—a bit of housekeeping humor).

The only real evidence of the De Soles's worldly life is their art collection, which features works by Cy Twombly, Brice Marden and Mark Rothko, alongside modern Italian artists such as Giorgio Morandi, Piero Manzoni, Lucio Fontana and Alighiero Boetti. Thomas admits that at first he wasn't aware of the prestige of their collection. "It's not an inexpensive house," he says, "but any one of those pieces is worth more than the house." (All canvases are kept behind glass to protect them from the salty, damp air and in the event of a storm can be evacuated at a moment's notice by an Atlanta-based service.)

"We just buy what we like—we love contemporary art. We have no intention of selling," says De Sole, whose taste initially ran to antique marine art, now docked in a den richly paneled in local pecky cypress. "The most important thing that Eleanore and I agreed on when we started collecting is that we only buy art that we both like." The one piece that didn't follow this rule is the yellow and white Ellsworth Kelly that dominates his office, which he found at the 2011 Art Basel Miami Beach fair. Meanwhile, she was the catalyst behind the Twombly painting from his Rome series, which hangs on the dining room wall. "My wife is not a material person, but with art, if she likes something, she really likes it," he says, grinning. "Unless I say I absolutely hate it, she is going to be on my case until we buy it."

It was auctioneer Simon de Pury—on the board of Gucci at the time—who prompted their first foray into collecting by steering them toward modern Italian artists. "Their collection is a reflection of their personalities: refined, restrained and elegant," says de Pury. Their first significant 20th-century purchases were two Fontanas—a work on paper and a white painting—which they selected with the help of James Kelly, a Santa Fe gallerist they've been working with since 1999. "Eleanore eschews the fashionable and the hyped," says Kelly, who also advises Ford. "She's driven by the creative process and the intellect shown by the artist."

Indeed, touring the property's two houses with her is akin to tagging along with a museum docent—fitting, considering that the De Soles are major supporters of the Aspen Art Museum, which is set to open a new building by architect Shigeru Ban in 2014. She lovingly describes each piece, from the video art in the entrance hall (an exploding still life of flowers by Ori Gersht) to a recently acquired Mark Grotjahn canvas. "We have a little bit of everything," Eleanore says, "a bit of photography, some crazy sculptures. It's just fun."

Even in their Gucci heyday, the De Soles were known for their low-key, convivial approach. They regularly invited Gucci Group designers including McQueen, Balenciaga's Nicolas Ghesquière and McCartney over for home-cooked dinners, which Eleanore served herself. When De Sole left, his longtime Italian employees at Gucci showed their devotion with a solid-silver statuette featuring him as a fearless sea captain steering a wheel made of Gucci 'G's. It was poignant for De Sole too: "The company was like my child, so it was very emotional. I never cried when my parents died, but I cried the day we announced I was leaving Gucci."

De Sole had left his mark however, and still keeps in touch with everyone from McCartney and Bottega Veneta's Tomas Maier to his old driver, with whom he lunched on a recent trip to Florence. And when the news came that McQueen had committed suicide, he was devastated. "We had been very, very close. Eleanore knew him, my kids knew him, it was so upsetting." McQueen was among those who were unhappy that De Sole left the Gucci Group, and they spoke less after his departure. "He was a little upset," De Sole allows. When asked if McQueen felt protected by him at Gucci, he says, "Yes, I believe so. I was very close to him when I was there."

His style of protection, however, is a bit more subtle than current Saint Laurent CEO Paul Deneve, who penned a heated screed damning Women's Wear Daily's negative review of Hedi Slimane's debut for the house. Ford went through a similar trial by fire—most notably at the hands of French fashion critic Virginie Mouzat, who dubbed his spring 2012 presentation "a slowly unfolding nightmare"—but "I would not have written a public letter," says De Sole. "Did I like it? No. Did I think it was fair? Absolutely not. But at the end of the day, the only thing that counts is to let the clothes speak for themselves.

"Especially in fashion, people get very emotional," he continues. "If you are factual and rational, that helps."

Many others have felt the benefit of having De Sole as their quiet consigliere, including Derek Lam. "Generous is not enough of a word to describe Domenico," says the designer, who was mentored by De Sole as part of a CFDA/ Vogue Fashion Fund program and continues to speak to him regularly. "He was like a bonus CEO at a critical time. He gave so much of his time and energy to us."

And one gets the sense he will continue to offer his council to Ford until he is kicked out the door. "I'm a workaholic. I will do it until Tom says, 'This is great, you are still my partner, but you have to retire,' " says De Sole, looking around the coastline. "I wouldn't know what else to do if I didn't work, to be very honest. You see, I don't play golf."

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